Aiden's Star

Another thing Aiden dislikes GREATLY is diaper or clothes changing time... Lately he has gotten a bit better during some changes. He'll lie there and not fuss. But other times he will just get plain ol' MAD. Sometimes, as soon as you put a shirt over his head or pull an arm out - he goes from cooing to the loudest, angriest yell ever! Many times - as soon as you lie him on the changing pad, he gets mad. He knows what that thing is!!

We have these stars and circles decals that go with his bedding - to put on the wall (especially since we can't paint because we're in an apartment). We've been waiting until we had all of the nursery furniture before putting anything on the wall, and we finally got our glider in last week. So, up went some decals on the wall next to the changing table. I put the biggest, most contrasting star near where Aiden's head lies so he would see it easily.

Immediate success!!! He LOVES (I mean LOVES!) the stars, especially the big one! When he sees it, he will just stare at it and smile away! I'll point at the star and call it "Aiden's Star." He'll lie there, and I'll sing Twinkle Little Star - he'll look back and forth between me and the star and just smile. It's the cutest thing!

Now, he doesn't always see the star right away, and it doesn't work every single time - but it is a HUGE difference!

(Thanks Tabitha and Zeb for giving us the decals!!!)

Aiden looking up at "Aiden's star" - Look at that smile!!

This has also helped with one other issue... Aiden's song. See, Camden and I have a special song that's just for us - "You are my sunshine." I always sang it to him when he was sad or hurt (and still do!!), and it just became "our song." We even danced to that at my and Ryan's wedding. :) So, when Aiden was born, I felt like I couldn't really sing that to him and take away the special-ness there was with the song and Camden. (Though we do sing it from time to time, and Camden gave his "ok" first.) No other song has jumped out as a song for Aiden - until now. We sing "Twinkle Little Star" (ok - I sing it), and he loves it! Camden saw it one day and said, "That can be Aiden's song!"

And so it shall be.